Siduri and Novy score big honor

I was glad to read the press release that Siduri and Novy Family Wines have been chosen as the exclusive wine for an important international event, the Global Sport Summit, which was held last weekend in London. You can look over the Summit’s details on their website, but suffice it to say it attracted some heavyweight names: Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, and Her Royal Highness Haya Bint Al Hussein, of Jordan. That’s a nice crowd to drink your wine.

I’ve liked the owners of Siduri and Novy, Adam and Dianna Lee (Novy is Dianna’s maiden name), ever since I met them to interview them for my last book, New Classic Winemakers of California: Conversations with Steve Heimoff. I always admire it when someone succeeds through their own efforts — no family money, no inherited position, no insider friends to open the door. Adam and Dianna met when they were both working retail in, I believe, Texas. They fell in love, and the next thing you know, they’re living in Guerneville, learning how to make wine from books. They told me one of the greatest stories ever. When they made their first Pinot Noir, from Anderson Valley, they decided one night to drive over the hill and deliver it to Robert Parker, who they’d heard was staying at Meadowood. They left instructions for the concierge to deliver it to him. However, when they awoke the next morning, they decided they’d made a dreadful mistake. If Parker hated it, they’d be ruined even before they began! So they called Meadowood to ask the concierge not to do it. Too late. Parker got the wine. Eventually, he gave it a great score, and the rest is history.